Today I was in our school wetlands, taking a quiet moment from the organized
chaos of our wetland days third grade program. There was a female
green-winged teal puttering about at the edge of the pond when she suddenly
exploded with a violent wingflap, splash and squeak of surprise. I put my
bins on where she had come from and an otter poked its head up out of the
water. I swear it looked like it was grinning at the prank. The otter dove
and the female immediately became very agitated, nervously swimming about,
jumping short distances in the air. Finally she flew over the brush and
landed on the small pond in the middle of where a bunch of third graders
were sitting. I made my way back into the fray of kids to find the duck
sitting on the side of the pond and not one of the kids had noticed it fly
in. The duck then waddled down a rather wet trail and then snuck into a
small gap in the salmonberry into a rather confined area of dead cattails. I
looked away to direct some students and when I looked back she had
disappeared. I looked and looked and could not see her again, even though I
knew almost exactly where she was. Finally she moved, and like magic came
into focus. Her mottled brown was the perfect camouflage for her
surroundings. Only a few of the kids got to see her although she stayed
there almost an hour and several groups passed closely by.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
Snohomish County